"Just to put it in perspective, with the assassination that took place 100 years ago tomorrow in Sarajevo, the world was at total peace. There was trade, there was globalization, there was technological transfer, the High Church of England and the Catholic Church and the Christian faith was predominant throughout Europe of practicing Christians. "

^well that's what else I found strange about it. I'd be reading along with an attitude of "ok, this is a pretty common opinion blah blah. Blah" then down another 3 paragraphs I'm shaking my head violently NOOOO!!!

...

The problem with putting "judeo-Christian" in front of stuff is that it's so hard to read, like how many different groups on this earth have associated themselves with that??? It ranges from all over the political map (KKK to "holiday" celebrations). The worst part is so many of us (myself included) project our own meaning on to it.

"The book’s language, at times, mirrors the rhetoric against political correctness that has become a hallmark of the Trump campaign. “This administration has forbidden us to describe our enemies properly and clearly: they are Radical Islamists,” Flynn writes. “They are not alone, and are allied with countries and groups who, though not religious fanatics, share their hatred of the West, particularly the United States and Israel. Those allies include North Korea, Russia, China, Cuba, and Venezuela.”“Let’s face it: right now we’re losing, and I’m talking about a very big war, not just Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan,” Flynn goes on to write. “We’re in a world war against a messianic mass movement of evil people, most of them inspired by a totalitarian ideology: Radical Islam. But we are not permitted to speak or write those two words, which is potentially fatal to our culture.”

Militarily, the campaign Flynn envisions would be “similar to the effort during World War II or the Cold War” and would be guided by a single leader answering to the president. Additionally, Flynn adds, “Another more fundamental and dramatic effort would be a call for a complete reformation of the Islamic religion. This must start inside the Muslim community in order to succeed — but it must start somewhere.”

Flynn does not shy away from hyperbole. “There is no escape from this war,” he writes. “Do you want to be ruled by men who eagerly drink the blood of their dying enemies? Such questions are almost never asked. Yet if you read the publicly available ISIS documents on their intentions, there’s no doubt that they are dead set on taking us over and drinking our blood.”"

These are the people giving Trump, (who has zero military experience, and zero understanding of foreign policy) national security briefings every day. You really think that after the 20th or 30th briefing, Trump isn't going to cave into fanatical pressure and do something irrevocably dangerous?

"Congress should pass a law re-establishing collection of all metadata, and combining it with publicly available financial and lifestyle information into a comprehensive, searchable database. Legal and bureaucratic impediments to surveillance should be removed."

I mean, isn't it obvious by now? Trump only cares about tax codes and trade. He won't do a goddamn thing about trade because he's a failure. He'll probably cut taxes for the rich, and he'll leave the rest of governing up to the radical right-wing, because they were the only ones who were willing to back him from the beginning. Pencey-Pence and Paul Ryan are probably calling most of the shots when it comes to stacking the cabinet and setting horrible policy into motion. Trump will be an absentee President at best, and at worst he'll allow the alt-right and radical christian right to make all the horrible decisions that they want.

There is no honor in a "wait and see" approach. He ran as an autocrat, so you have to assume the worse with him. He doesn't have the slightest idea about how to govern, and clearly has no respect for the law or any precedent that was set before him. It was reported that he was surprised about how many people he would have to appoint to his cabinet. I think he genuinely thought that most of the people in the white house would just "stick around" after Obama leaves to handle all the day to day stuff.

This is going to be awful. None of this will be normal. Do not get used to it.

It's not like any of us rushing to say, yep this presidency is going to be a failure will actually change anything. That said, I doubt it will be anything looked back upon favorably but I guess we will see.

what's intertwined in his worldview is to surround himself with loyal surrogates, regardless of competency or suitability. it just so happens that a lot of those people, in this case, have a worldview intertwined with Christian fundamentalism.

"President-elect Trump asked me to meet with him about our current policies regarding Syria, our fight against terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS, as well as other foreign policy challenges we face. I felt it important to take the opportunity to meet with the President-elect now before the drumbeats of war that neocons have been beating drag us into an escalation of the war to overthrow the Syrian government—a war which has already cost hundreds of thousands of lives and forced millions of refugees to flee their homes in search of safety for themselves and their families.

“While the rules of political expediency would say I should have refused to meet with President-elect Trump, I never have and never will play politics with American and Syrian lives.

“Serving the people of Hawai?i and our nation is an honor and responsibility that I do not take lightly. Representing the aloha spirit and diversity of the people of Hawai?i, I will continue to seek common ground to deliver results that best serve all Americans, as I have tried to do during my time in Congress.

“Where I disagree with President-elect Trump on issues, I will not hesitate to express that disagreement. However, I believe we can disagree, even strongly, but still come together on issues that matter to the American people and affect their daily lives. We cannot allow continued divisiveness to destroy our country.

“President-elect Trump and I had a frank and positive conversation in which we discussed a variety of foreign policy issues in depth. I shared with him my grave concerns that escalating the war in Syria by implementing a so-called no fly/safe zone would be disastrous for the Syrian people, our country, and the world. It would lead to more death and suffering, exacerbate the refugee crisis, strengthen ISIS and al-Qaeda, and bring us into a direct conflict with Russia which could result in a nuclear war. We discussed my bill to end our country’s illegal war to overthrow the Syrian government, and the need to focus our precious resources on rebuilding our own country, and on defeating al-Qaeda, ISIS, and other terrorist groups who pose a threat to the American people.

“For years, the issue of ending interventionist, regime change warfare has been one of my top priorities. This was the major reason I ran for Congress—I saw firsthand the cost of war, and the lives lost due to the interventionist warmongering policies our country has pursued for far too long.

“Let me be clear, I will never allow partisanship to undermine our national security when the lives of countless people lay in the balance.""